Zero: the End where we start again

India invented zero and the Arabs gave it to the world. Without zero mathematics wouldn’t have progressed much. Imagine writing 999 in Roman numerals. CMXCIX. And thousand is just M. How far can you go with that sort of a numeral system?

Zero changed it all. Zero brought about a revolution in mathematics. It changed the course of human thought more profoundly than most grand ideas. Yet, with all the humility that is characteristic of India’s mysticism (unlike its mythology), we called this great number shoonya, empty.

Zero is both emptiness and possibility, a void that does not merely negate, but enables. Ten can become hundred with just one zero. And so on. The entire arithmetic of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division would have been nearly impossible without zero.

Yet, India named it ‘emptiness.’

We, in Kerala, gave zero a more honourable name. Poojyam, we call it. Honourable is the meaning.

But shoonyata or emptiness is not a negative concept in India. In Buddhist philosophy, shoonyata is not a void of despair, but of openness. And when this openness is no longer an idea but a felt reality, it alters the ground beneath our feet. To encounter nothingness is to stand at the edge of certainty, ready to explore the mystery beyond. It is to recognise that the self we cling to is not as solid as we believed.

Our ancient civilisation, our loudly vaunted identity, our glorious narratives… they all become less rigid in that emptiness. Alpha and Omega meet in that emptiness. From A to Z is not a straight line, but maybe a circle. Like Zero.

As T S Eliot wrote in Little Gidding, “What we call the beginning is often the end / And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

What appears as arrival may already contain departure. Like, the day we are born, we begin moving towards death. The moment we fall in love, we also begin the risk of loss. When a civilisation reaches its zenith, decline may already be seeded with its triumph. Every sunset carries the sunset within.

We encounter zero again and again as we count on. 10, 20, 30… Zero encourages us to reflect on most of our progresses and progressions as cyclical rather than linear. Seasons turn, empires rise and fall, souls learn through recurrence. Consciousness sheds old skins.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world is the beginning for the butterfly, as Richard Bach’s Messiah puts it unforgettably.

When grief breaks the heart, compassion may enter. When certainty collapses, inquiry awakens.

Zero reminds us that every ending is the promise of a new beginning. Truth begins where illusion ends. Freedom begins where bondage ends. Wisdom begins when we see the zero within us clearly.

Zero reminds us that life is less a march towards extinction than continuous act of becoming. We stand not at doors that shut forever, but at revolving doors through which existence endlessly renews itself.

Thanks to ChatGPT too!

At a personal level, this A-Z exercise in April has been a very rewarding exercise for me. It changed some of my perceptions and attitudes. Jose Maliekal’s comments added inestimable thrust to some of those changes. I’m also grateful to Yamini MacLean whose comments were uniquely creative though, unfortunately, time didn’t let her write as elaborately or probingly as she used to otherwise. Liz’s regular visible presence is unforgettable. There are many others who visited regularly but chose not to comment. A few expressed their views privately on WhatsApp. I’m grateful to everyone who urged me to reflect more day after day, in their own way.

My Blogger dashboard shows that the series has clocked 176825 views as of now, at this moment. Thanks to everyone who visited.

A huge hug to the Blogchatter Team for their constant supportive push. It’s been a delightful, decade-long association with this ever-animated team.

PS. This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026

Previous Posts in this series

Authority	Bigotry		Courage		Dissent
Empathy		Faith		Gaslighting
Hero Worship		Integrity		Joker
Kafka in His Labyrinth		Loyalty vs Conscience		Majoritarianism
Negative Capability		Outrage Culture		Populism
Quixotism		Rhetoric		Self & Society
Tolerance		Unconditional Love		Vulnerability
War and Conscience		X: You and I		Yearning